The next phase concerns the creation of a softer, transitional edge around the flames and making a glow that blends them with the smoke. To do this, I again used another dirt map and selected just one aspect using Select > Color Range. I then copied and pasted the white regions into the scene and made them bright orange (Fig.07). As with the flames I added some blurring, but this time just using Gaussian Blur. It looks a little patchy here but when the flames are superimposed it makes more sense (Fig.08).

Fig.07

Fig.08

Perhaps the last aspect to add is some evidence of sparks, which were also derived from a dirt map. Fig.09 shows the map used, which in this instance only involves the white areas. Once these were integrated I duplicated the layer and added some Gaussian Blur in order to give them a slight glow and reduce the sharpness.The next phase involves adding smoke to the right hand side of the background. I find the best way of doing this is to use photos of clouds. Again I sourced a photo from the library and chose a suitable cloud formation that could represent a thick plume of smoke (Fig.10). This type of cumulous cloud is perfect, but if you want to fade the smoke out you can either use a soft Eraser or select a more wispy cirrus cloud and blend the two together. Once your cloud has been copied in the first thing to do is adjust the brightness and contrast using a combination of Curves, Levels and Brightness/Contrast. When satisfied you can then color correct it using Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and Hue/Saturation. The technique is identical to that shown in Fig.05.